Mike Whaley: Coe-Brown's summer work sets up its success

If you're one of the few cross country teams still running deep into November, it validates the hard work put in during the summer months.

The Coe-Brown Northwood Academy girls team is still running in that rarified air.

“A lot of people have said cross country is a summer sport played out in the fall,” said Coe-Brown co-coach Brent Tkaczyk. “You've got to do your running. You've got to get that work in.”

Coe-Brown's still competing, proof that they did their running. The Bears will run next week in the Nike Cross Northeast Regional in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. They are coming off the most successful fall in program history in which they three-peated as Division II champs, repeated as state champs and were second at the New England championship in Maine (all their scoring impressively done by underclassmen). Coe-Brown did most of this with its two strongest girls running at less than 100 percent.

Coe-Brown draws its students predominantly from four towns: Northwood, Strafford, Nottingham and Barrington. They also get a handful of students from Deerfield. It's not uncommon in the summer months to see Coe-Brown runners doing their road work along the back roads, trails and byways of their respective towns.

In addition, co-coaches Tkaczyk and Tim Cox offer optional, relaxed summer runs that meet near the Bow Lake dam on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting in mid June. They also run the popular five-day running camp in Bar Harbor, Maine, in late July that draws approximately 50 kids and their families, some from other teams and even other schools.

“It's something that's a lot of work, a lot of preparation” Tkaczyk said. “There's a lot of thinking that goes into it. But it's a blast. It's fun.”

The fun part, of course, is intentional. So is the team building.

“That's where it starts,” Tkaczyk said. “It starts with camp and building that dynamic. The kids in tents at night. It's just fun.”

Cox did summer running camps when he was in high school and they were, when he looks back as a coach, too intense. The Bar Harbor camp offers plenty of running opportunity, but not under intense conditions.

“The camp challenges the team,” Cox said. “Not just running challenges; other challenges as well. That really brings the team together.”

“It's an awesome time,” said Strafford junior Jessie Carney, who is contemplating doing her senior project on the camp. “It's huge for team building. Over the summer we lose seniors and get a bunch of freshmen and the team totally changes. That's a great time to define the new team. It's a really important time.”

This is the fourth year the camp has gone to Bar Harbor, and it remains a time period that is cordoned off well in advance on calendars across the Northwood region.

“It's my favorite week of the year,” Tkaczyk said. “That's including state championships and all that. My wife goes. My kids go. Cox's wife and kids go. We all get together and it's just a blast.”

“It's so much fun, you don't even realize how hard you are working,” said Nottingham sophomore Katie Scannell, “until you look down and you realize you just did a two-hour long run and you feel great.”

For first-time campers there's some initial trepidation, but it quickly dissipates.

“I wasn't sure what was going to go on at camp,” said freshman Brooke Laskowsky, the team's only runner from Deerfield. “But I was pleasantly surprised. I love running, so I was excited that we ran. Then there were the fun things like the shaving cream fights.”

It brings a new team slowly together without any outside pressures or expectations other than that you help out, do your runs and, of course, have fun. For Cox and Tkaczyk the formula doesn't work if you're not having fun.

“It's definitely the highlight of my summer,” Nottingham freshman Meg Scannell said. “You get your physical activity in and worked really hard, but it was super fun and you wanted to keep doing it. And you bonded with your team.”

“It's a phenomenal experience,” Cox added. “It's not just about getting faster. It's about coming together and meeting challenges as a group. It's not just running, it's a lot of things you do in life.”

If the running camp sets the tone as the fall season approaches, the Bow Lake runs allow runners to have a relaxed outlet to touch base with teammates, coaches, alumni and friends. The runs used to be at Coe-Brown in the late '90s, but that quickly changed because “we're running here all the time,” said Tkaczyk.

They moved to Northwood Meadows State Park, which is beautiful, but the horseflies are terrible. Eventually they settled on Bow Lake six years ago with its nice trails, back roads and access to water.

“That's the reason we have the camp in Bar Harbor,” Tkaczyk said. “We have the water and all the other opportunities. We really feel like to get the kids in the water after a run; get their legs wet. It's therapeutic. That's another reason why we run at (Bow Lake), as well.”

The twice-weekly optional Bow Lake runs start at 5:30 in the early evening with runners stretching out on the beach near the dam. Coe-Brown runners past and present (and future, too, with the Cox and Tkaczyk kids joining the fray, as well as the brothers and sisters of runners) are among those gathered. There are parents, too.

“Come run. Here we are,” Cox said. “It's been pretty awesome, too. Running's a great way to get together; an easy way to get your miles in.”

Carney said during the summer the runners are supposed to run almost every day. “Sometimes it can be a daunting task to run by yourself,” she said. “So just a couple days a week getting together running with friends kind of keeps you on track. It keeps everybody honest because if you haven't run all week and you come back, people are going to notice. It's great for team bonding.”

Great for the body, too, including a refreshing swim in the Bow Lake waters after a hearty run.

Like Bar Harbor, the Bow Lake runs help set the tone for the season. But, really, it's what the runners do on their own in the summer months that makes or breaks what happens once the season starts.

“The thing is,” Cox added, “you are not still running in November if you didn't do your homework in June and July.”

Mike Whaley is the Sports Editor for Foster's Daily Democrat and the Rochester Times. He can be reached at mwhaley@fosters.com.